The Gambits of Fate
by KittyKatze20
Summary: A devastating change in the timeline causes one ridiculously powerful but underachieving seer to cast a long forgotten seer spell to go back and change things for the better. But fate has its own way of keeping things on course when she becomes too attached to the people she is supposed to manipulate.
1. An obligatory prologue

:Notes at the end:

Ophelia Demos was never one to care much about her studies. It was just something she did to keep her parents off her back but she often failed at that. Though she would always shoot their demands back at them, why should she study for her NEWTs when there were multiple magical governments offering her a job right out of school. They couldn't properly scout her at school as Dumbledore disliked government officials on school grounds, but even now with him dead it was impossible to talk to representatives from other governments at all since the magical UK fell into civil war. Besides, the new puppet minister just didn't have Fudge's gift for pandering to his betters.

She could only thank her own foresight that she kept the real power of her Sight to herself. If the dark lord had caught wind that the reincarnation of the first Seer was a Hogwarts student, she would have had to go into hiding like Harry Potter had. Her potential for Seeing was dangerous in the hands of the dark. She took full advantage of the infallibility of her visions of Fate.

But here she stood, watching Harry Potter, the golden child, the chosen one, fall for the second time today. It was the final battle, and up until an hour ago, she had been hiding away from the battle. So sure was she of the outcome she didn't see the point in participating. But now he fell, dead from the killing curse, no horcrux split soul to protect him from its maker. An hour ago, her infallible vision of fate changed, causing a deep fissuring pain in her soul that she didn't know was possible. The future changed to something strange, twisted and unstable. She saw the timeline collapse in on itself and cease to exist and she couldn't pinpoint what changed. But something significant had to have changed, something that couldn't have possibly changed.

Now Ophelia felt like a liar. That she had lied to the Order, to Ginny Weasley, and to herself. Because what was happening in front of her was not what she predicted. People around her collapsed screaming, they charged in a last ditch attempt to avenge their fallen hero. But they too fell. She felt her body move on its own, still numb and reeling from shock. How could she have been so wrong?

There he stood, cackling his triumph as he cursed the grief stricken resistance. She never rose her wand to him, just walked calmly forward until she was 10 yards from him, surrounded by the renewed chaos. He made eye contact with her and she felt a splitting headache as he tried to breech her natural occlumency shields, one as powerful as he just might crack the shields of the first seer, but her mind was so blank there was nothing to see except ancient words resonating. He beckoned for her to come closer but she didn't move, though didn't offer him resistance as he moved closer, seeing her green tie and slytherin insignia on her robes. Her next words stopped him in his tracks and filled his face with disgust, though she barely heard herself speak.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle! Bastard son of the squib Merope Gaunt and the muggle Tom Riddle Sr." Her voice echoed above the din and calmed the rising tide of rebellion and retaliation. Red serpent eyes narrowed on her voice and she felt the legilimancy attack grow stronger. This knowledge had never been hers to know but it flooded her mind and spilled from her lips. "You have broken the line of fate ruling this circle of time!" Though her wand now rose to point at the sky, he did nothing but clench his first around his own, watching her with thinly concealed rage and new interest at the nature of her words. "It must be repaired! Tempus Sectare!"

Everything fell to black.

:notes: Hello everyone and welcome to my newest debut into the community. I haven't posted a story in nearly a decade after being featured on several anti oc forums that severely discouraged me from ever sharing my work again. But now I'm back under a new pseudonym and a new set of fan characters. I know it's not the most comprehensive read, but please bear with me as I get back into the flow of things, my mind isn't the most comprehensive thing either. Sorry if you don't like OCs, but I write for my own enjoyment and if y'all don't have anything constructive to say, please leave it at the door. But I do welcome mindless sycophants! *listens, hears crickets, clears throat* and now you also have a taste of my offbeat and horrible sense of humor. I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to favorite, subscribe, and most importantly, review!


	2. A transitionary chapter, part 1

:notes at the end:

Everything went black as the density of her very being was forcibly removed and sent careening into the ether. She felt both incredibly heavy and impossibly light as her soul lurched backwards through time. Arcane whispers swirled around her, lining the path she was taking decades into the past before suddenly everything stopped and she existed in a time and place, somewhere in Italy, where an elderly woman was reading a hardcover book. This was her previous incarnation, but decades before her rebirth. Was she truly meant to go this far back?

Dark hair streaked with gray was styled in a strict and unforgiving bun, not even baby hairs escaped the severity. Her wizened and pointed face twisted in momentary confusion as she dropped her book to clutch at her chest with two gnarled hands. Speaking in rapid Italian, Ophelia still understood, this was herself after all. Even the irritation lacing the words with poison were known, the old woman spitting in aggravation. "What is this? You cannot be here yet! I have years still before you are born" her eyes, a pale watery blue, glaze over before a moment of clarity spreads across that bitter face, incredulity plain. "Did you really fuck up so badly you had to cut across my time to fix your mistakes? I suppose I have no choice in the matter then. Can I have a week at least to get my affairs in order? I have grandchildren you know!" But Ophelia had no control as she watched the old woman get to her feet, wand clutched in her hand as she conjured a cane to help stand on the prosthetic leg peeking out from under a gray woolen skirt. She was whisked away once more at the whims of fate as she heard the old seer mutter, "no not even a day, pathetic child" and collapse to the ground. The wayward soul was dragged months into the past once more, months instead of years this time, still reeling in numb shock at the way the old woman had just died before her.

This place was dark, dark room with a dark bed and dark bodies moving unseen. The moment of conception for a historical figure, and now the moment of conception for herself as well. True darkness took over once more as she now was stuck to wait in this empty womb, for bodies to form and in six months she and her twin's soul would take their places.

But now she had nothing but time to burn thinking, almost ten months to meditate on her failures as a person and as a seer. To wonder why she failed. How did she fail? What changed? Why did Harry's life matter so much in the grand scheme of things?

Nothing but time.

:notes:

Welcome, everyone! To the second chapter of The Gambits of Fate! Can you believe I came up with that title off the top of my head as I published the first chapter?

I'm a little ball of anxiety posting this story, I'm so nervous if anyone will even read it, so nervous that people will hate it.

Now I hope you all enjoyed, please remember to favorite, subscribe, and most importantly, review! Thanks for reading!


	3. A transitionary chapter part 2

:notes at the end:

The darkness was suffocating. Her Sight was stunted in this prison and she was barely aware of what this mother was doing, what the father was saying into the belly. Love eminated from every cell of her new parents and there was no doubt this pregnancy was wanted, so unlike her original parents who reminded her every day that she had been unplanned and unwanted. They had not wanted a fourth child, it was her fault that she had been born to them. Her older siblings resented her power, constantly mocking her for her poor grades (an Acceptable was never acceptable.) But none of that mattered anymore. Time had been rewritten and the Demos family would never have that fourth child. They would be so much happier without her around, so much happier that they would never have to leave Greece because a 5 year old Seer demanded it after having of one of her Super Important Dreams. It didn't matter anymore because the Potter family were so happy to have twins instead of just one child. Their children would never be alone, they would always have each other. Even when she or her embryonic twin would stretch or kick and the mother would have to rush to the chamber pots, there was never any regret about the pregnancy.

Time was hard to keep track of, even after she finally entered the shell of her new body, time passed strangely. She would sleep and wake with individual fingers, with eyelids to cover huge staring eyes. The eyes of her twin startled her the first time she saw them focused on her. Unblinking and blue, somehow the only light able to pierce the darkness and make it a little less suffocating. It was the first small destruction of monotony in this new life. The twin's soul appeared shortly after the eyelids did. A borderline psychic bond developed between the two of them almost immediately.

Soon they were both so big they no longer had the freedom to properly move, their umbilical cords intertwining around them like a pair of snakes. It was unnerving and she felt claustrophobic, but this was her twin now, their souls became as intertwined as their umbilical cords. She felt what he felt, knew what he knew, and knew that this intense bond would only slightly fade over time. The next time she woke up was to her body thrashing in panic as quakes squeezed around them and she saw movement ahead of her. She lost consciousness until after the birth was already over, with what she could only assume was a mediwitch pointing a wand at her chest. She was silent in her shock but painful breaths were forced out of her tiny lungs.

Everything was so bright and loud after so long spent in the womb. Trying to listen to what they were saying was difficult, her ears hurt and she was crying from the pain.

No sound came from her though she tried to scream. The adults were talking around her and she did manage to catch snippets of their worried conversation "chords are dama-" and "need a specialist-" but she couldn't focus. After so long in a muffled prison, even her happiness over being finally free was overshadowed by the new sensations. Though the pain was soothed after she felt herself exchange hands and warm lips pressed to her forehead. This body was so weak and helpless but still she tried to call magic to her though all she managed to conjure was a small spark of light that startled the person holding her. She stared up into warm grey eyes the color of steel and felt the love she saw in them steep into her body like hot tea on a cold day. Her vision was then obscured as something was pressed to her lips and she instinctively latched on. Warmth spilled down her sore throat and she knew what bliss was. Another small body pressed near hers and she felt calm spread. With her twin next to her, she knew nothing could ever hurt her.

:notes: Alright, another chapter!

I am really sorry for these short chapters, there's only so much I can write before they come to a natural end.

Thank you so much to the people who have read and followed this story, and to the one who reviewed. It means so much to me to know that people enjoy it, it encourages me to keep writing.

Don't expect these daily chapters all the time, I've got a bit of a backlog right now to go off of but it will eventually run out.

Expect this story to get very dark soon, depending on how much I plan to reveal, I may have to change the rating. Let's just say, Ophelia's developing backstory is not for the faint of heart.

As always, please remember to favorite, subscribe, and most importantly REVIEW!


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